President of Turkmenistan and Prime Minister of Singapore discussed priority areas of interstate cooperation

20:0927.08.2019

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Establishing strong ties with Singapore, we hope that your country will become one of the important partners of Turkmenistan in the trade and economic sphere, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said at a meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Lung, which was held today with the participation of official delegations of the two countries.

- We will welcome the expansion of the activities of Singapore companies in the Turkmen market, and at the same time intend to focus on high-tech segments, where Singapore has a successful long-term experience, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.

At the same time, the head of Turkmenistan said that the priority vectors of Turkmen-Singapore cooperation are energy, oil and gas, transport and communications, and banking.

There are also great opportunities for partnership in the field of energy, where Turkmenistan has significant potential and rich hydrocarbon resources. In this segment, good prospects are also opening in the context of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.

The head of state also stated the expediency to take concrete measures to increase and diversify mutual trade turnover.

The first Turkmen-Singapore business forum, held on August 26, may become a good format for promoting trade and economic relations, the head of Turkmenistan stressed, suggesting to put on a systematic basis the exchange of business delegations, the organization of trade and industrial exhibitions in both countries.

In the transport and transit sphere, Turkmenistan also considers Singapore as a major potential partner in the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, Turkmenistan is forming an extensive network of transport, transit and logistics infrastructure of combined type on the East-West and North-South lines. It includes transit corridors overlooking the Caspian sea, the black sea basin, the Mediterranean sea region and the Persian Gulf.

Turkmenistan supports the joint development of proposals for the development of transport infrastructure for discussion in specialized international structures, in particular, in the UN Economic and social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

As the head of Turkmenistan stressed, this first visit to Singapore is intended to be a milestone event in the history of interstate dialogue, to give a proper impetus to the development of cooperation in a wide range of areas. Today, the Singapore side has demonstrated its readiness for such cooperation.

Thanking Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long for the constructive dialogue, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited the head of the Singapore Government to pay an official visit to Turkmenistan at a convenient time for him.